Passing through history
IF it’s true what they say about first impressions, it’s something of a miracle that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert ever married. By all accounts, they weren’t exactly wowed by one another the first time they met.
In fact, Victoria’s initial encounter with her husband-to-be, when they were both just 17, sounds as though it was a little awkward in several respects.
“Albert had permanent diarrhoea when he first met her,” reveals historian A.N. Wilson in a new documentary tonight. “The entire German party that came over had dreadful gastric attacks. So it wasn’t very successful…”
Ah, yes, I do like a history documentary that pays attention to detail, and this one, VICTORIA & ALBERT: THE ROYAL WEDDING (BBC2, 9pm) has a particular fascination for such minutiae.
That’s because it’s the latest offering from that great opiniondivider of history documentarymakers, Lucy Worsley. Lucy (right) is the one, you may recall, who likes to bring history to life by staging colourful, elaborate re-enactments.
Not only that, but as if hell-bent on antagonising the purists further, she also likes to take various walk-on roles in these programmes, donning the appropriate period clobber so she can mingle unnoticed and eavesdrop on those funny people from the olden days.
Historians of a more earnest or academic persuasion tend to be mildly appalled by this approach. They accuse her of dumbing things down. I guess they do have a point – it is, let’s be honest, a tiny bit Blue Petery – but I’m not sure I particularly care.
And I’m pretty much certain Lucy doesn’t. It’s fun, it’s engaging, and ultimately it attracts a hell of a lot more viewers than if it were just a solid hour of cobwebby professors droning on. Recreating the wedding of Victoria and Albert, who married in February 1840, turns out to be an immense challenge. The venue, clothes, food, music (of which no reliable record survives) – it all has to be approached with painstaking precision.
Personally, I’m not sure I could be bothered. I do hope they paid her well. And the aim of the exercise? Haven’t a clue. But it does make for 90 minutes of absorbing TV.
It’s fascinating, too, to be reminded of the context in which this wedding took place.
“This wasn’t just romance,” Lucy points out, “it was politics. This marriage had to stave off a revolution.” Yes, at this point in history the Royal Family’s popularity had plummeted and since Prince Edward wasn’t yet around to organise It’s A Royal Knockout, which obviously everyone would have loved, this wedding was considered the best way to fix things. As it turned out, Lucy adds, it would also be “the birth of a brand”. Elsewhere tonight, Lee Mack steps out of his comfort zone to bring us NOT GOING OUT LIVE (BBC1, 9pm), the first time his splendidly silly sitcom has undertaken such a challenge.
I love this show, so I do hope it goes well. But obviously not too well. What would be the fun in that?